Artistic innovations of sankaradeva: a living tradition in Assam today

Abstract

Srimanta Sankaradeva was not only the preacher of Neo-Vaishnavism (Eksarana Dharma). He was a poet and writer of Assamese literature. He is the organizer and reformer of the Assamese nation. He also studied Sanskrit texts for the purpose of promoting religion as well as literature and culture. He thus enriched the treasury of Assamese literature. He also translated several skandas of the Bhagavad Gita, the Uttarakhand Ramayana, into Assamese. He wrote poems such as Rukminiharan and Harichandra Upakhyan, as well as Bargeet. He wrote plays such as Rukminiharan, Parijataharan, Kaligopal, Kalidaman and Ramvijaya. The Bhakti Ratnakara is one of the greatest theoretical works of Sankaradeva. His efforts laid the foundation for Assam and Assamese spiritual, aesthetic, religious and social identity. The paper is a humble attempt to discuss the contributions of Mahapurusha Sirmanta Sankaradeva to the arena of music, dance, culture and religion.